P.R.O. cooler or the perfectly re-engineered omni cooler

ABSTRACT

The manner in which you use this cooler is you first remove the lid, then remove the inner tray. You then add ice (as much or as little as desired), water (enough to cover ice), a hand full of rock salt and the desired beverage containers. If traveling reinsert inner tray and lid and that&#39;s it, But if you are where your going and you want a drink fast just simply mix water with your hand and set timer to Cold, Ice Cold, Arctic Cold, or Liquid Ice and when bell rings your drinks are ready. 
     You can also reverse the lid and put ice and drinks in it as a serving cooler. The inner tray has four equal compartments for storing cold foods or for serving from. The Timer is also a great tool for grilling or as a reminder, when set, to keep an eye on the grill.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates specifically to the field of coolers or icechests, i.e., generally rectangular containers with insulated walls andhaving a hinged or removable top lid, typically portable, into whichitems to be cooled or chilled, such as cans or bottles, are placed alongwith ice and water.

Coolers used in chilling and maintaining at reduced temperature beveragecontainers such as bottles or cans are well known. Usually composed ofinsulated plastic walls. Portable coolers are common for use intransporting bottles or cans of beverages to be consumed at chilledtemperatures. In the most common scenario, a large number of cans orbottles are placed into the interior of the cooler and a large amount ofrelatively small ice cubes or crushed ice is then placed on top of thecontainers. As the heat is drawn from the cans or bottles by the ice,the ice melts to create a slurry of chilled water and ice surrounding,the beverage containers. Individual beverage containers are removed bysimply reaching into the chilled water and ice mixture.

Because the quantity of beverage containers able to be chilled at anyone time is limited by the size of the cooler, circumstances oftenarise, such as at a party, where it is desirable to restock or replenishthe cooler with un-chilled cans or bottles for cooling. The problem thatarises as to how long to wait and how can they be cooled faster than theice and water method. By adding rock salt to the ice and water slurry acontinuous quantity of chilled containers will always be available forconsumption in a matter of minutes.

A cooler loses its usefulness after a drink is cooled. Because atparties and functions there is usually grilling, fishing, or some typeof eating being done a cooler with multi functions was inevitable. To bemore specific a cooler that not only cooled drinks in a faster thannormal method but also could be a seat, have a serving bowl of nice perportion, include a reversible lid to serve as a means to hold ice, waterand drinks while cooler is cooling more, and while grilling it wouldhave a timer to sound off for set times or just as a reminder to checkthe food.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A cooler with the standard four walls and lid for use as a means to cooldown below ambient temperatures containers such as bottles or cans forconsuming. The lid on one side is a molded seat and on the other side isa bowl for serving purposes. The lid seals the cooler in eitherposition. The cooler has an inner-bowl also for serving but while incooler with lid in seat position makes a water tight cold storage bowl.A timer is located on the front of cooler with settings marked forcooling a drink to a desired range of temperatures. The cooler also hasa drain or spout for draining water from cooler. This cooler wasdesigned to be used with ice, water, and rock salt to cool down itemsbut the rock salt is not a must. The rock salt is the key to fastercooling and lower water temperatures however.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Description of cooler is as follows:

The Cooler it's self;

1: Four walls and bottom are molded plastic to form a square with foamas an insulator for thermal properties to retain cooler than ambienttemperatures inside when ice, water, and rock salt are added. An innerplastic liner over the insulating liner.

2: Inside cooler walls half way from bottom has a ½″ molded plastic rimthat goes all the way around all four sides to make a complete ridge forthe purpose of sitting and stopping a square bowl. About ¾ of an inchabove ridge on all four sides is a ¼ inch wide by ¼ inch deep grove thatgoes all the way to the top of cooler on inside walls as for means torelease air pressure when inserting inner square bowl and to release airpressure when installing lid in it's upright position.

3: A square bowl that fits snugly inside cooler sits on ½″ ridge to forma dry storage bowl that serves as dry but cooled storage space. Bowl isdivided into four equal parts by two molded plastic dividers runningperpendicular to each other. From corner to corner and corner to corner.At center of bowl where dividers cross, in each of the divider walls isa hole in divider to form four holes one in each compartment near centerfor means if inserting fingers to remove bowl from cooler. Bowl doublesas a four compartment serving bowl for cooled or room temperature foods.Bowl sides taper in as they go up and at the top one inch tapers inalmost to a inward curl to allow lid-bowl to slide over top and form aseal with lid when lid is installed.

4: A lid that is foam filled for insulating properties that is rigidwhen closed to form a means as to be a seat. Lid has a slight impressionto fit a persons bottom to make a comfortable seat. Lid on seat side hasa ridge around outside edge for reversible sealing of cooler lid. Lidwhen removed and flipped over seals cooler and has molded on square bowlwhich serves as a serving bowl, salad bowl or meat platter or any meansas to hold food that is not to be kept hot. Bowl is ideal for any coldor room temperature storage and serving. Bowl also serves as a washbasin or rinse basin. When lid is removed and returned to uprightposition and returned to cooler the lid forms a water tight cold storagespace by sliding over the inner bowel and locking in air.

5: A drain spout with knob or push button located in the bottom cornerof cooler front to drain liquid from inside.

6: A wind up timer with bell and dial ranging from zero (0) to sixty(60) minutes is located on the front side of cooler ¾ way up frombottom. The timer is glued into cooler body and sits flush with cooleroutside. At the ten (10) minute mark it reads COLD, at the twelve (12)minute mark it reads ICE COLD, at the fifteen (15) minute mark it readsARCTIC COLD, and at the eighteen (18) minute mark it reads LIQUID ICE.When set to desired minute, timer will ring when time has elapsed andindicate that time has elapsed. Timer is for the purpose of countingdown a preset time from room temperature drinks to be cooled to apredetermined temperature setting. Timer also doubles as a sixty (60)minute grilling timer. Cooler will double as a water cooler when rocksalt and inner-bowl are not used and drain spout will be used todispense water.

1) The multi function cooler that cools faster by using water, ice, androck salt and a timer with a bottom and four walls that each wall havinga molded ridge going from left to right half way up (for stoppingpurposes) and a small groove in center of each wall going from top ofwall to ¾ of an inch from ridge (for pressure relieving purposes), andalso said cooler has a molded reversible lid which has a seat on oneside and a molded plastic bowl on the other side; further more saidcooler has an inner bowl that fits snugly to the inside walls of coolerand the sides of inner bowl slope in-ward as they go up as to have thelid bowl fit over it when lid is installed on cooler and cooler also hasa sixty (60) minute timer with four distinct settings of COLD at ten(10) minutes, ICE COLD at twelve (12) minutes, ARCTIC COLD at fifteen(15) minutes, and LIQUID ICE at eighteen (18) minutes with the timerdoubling as a grill timer and cooler also having a drain spout withvalve to open and close to also double as a water dispenser.